Communicating in Groups, Valuing Diversity As Professor Arnold read the group members’ names aloud for the assigned presentations in “Introduction to Mass Media” on Monday, it was all Serena could do to keep her cool. She listened intently: “Group 1: Jessica Andrews,” “Jordan Nelson,” “Cassie Phillips,” and “Serena Jackson.” Even as the names were coming out of Professor Arnold’s mouth, Serena could see how it would all play out. Jessica would want to run the group, Cassie wouldn’t come through on her part, and Jordan would totally blow off the assignment. Great,Serena thought. A random group of students I don’t even know very well will earn 35 percent of my grade. It just didn’t seem fair. They had the last fifteen minutes of class to exchange cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses, which everyone did. There was even some excitement in the room. At least the group presenta-tions would break the repetitive cycle of weekly lectures. But the very thought of speaking in front of the class made Serena’s heart race, and now with ques-tionable teammates, things were looking grim. She had only earned a B on the first exam, and she desperately needed an A in this class to balance out her likely disappointing calculus grade.Serena sent off an e-mail to the group on Wednesday, suggesting they meet at the library on Friday morning to decide on a topic and divide up the work. Jessica wrote back immediately, “I work off campus on Friday mornings.” Cassie took her time but finally replied on Sunday, “I’m out of town this weekend. Let’s wait until next week.” Jordan didn’t write back at all. “You e-mailed me?” he said, with a puzzled look on his face in class on Monday. “Oh, I never check my e-mail. I only respond to texts.” Serena planned to catch everyone’s attention to set a new meeting time as class let out, but Cassie wasn’t there, and the other two had bolted by the time she zipped up her backpack.On Tuesday morning, it was Jessica who texted everyone: “Meeting in UC " "Focus challenge case 299213 tomorrow at 2. I know that works for three of us.” Three of us? Serena asked herself. No one had even checked with her. Were they working around her? Her calc class met from 1:15 to 3:30, and she couldn’t afford to skip it. She texted back, “I have class then.” “No worries,” Jessica replied. “We three will get started. Then we can just circulate a PowerPoint, and talk through it for the actual presentation.” Serena replied, “I could meet at 4. Can you?” “No, Cassie has a doctor’s appoint-ment, and I have a student government meeting.” What was the group’s topic? Who was doing what? Were they trying to exclude her, or did it just seem that way? Sometimes Serena felt isolated as the only minority student in this class, and at her school, that happened fairly often. Although she was seething inside, the last thing she wanted to do was rock the boat.Although she didn’t want to bother Professor Arnold, Serena finally decided to alert her to the group’s issues. But when she dropped by during office hours, Professor Arnold defended the assignment. “I know group projects can be challenging,” she said. “But you’ll be working through team issues like these in the workplace in a few years—and you’ll be ‘graded’ on the team’s results. I could step in and try to fix things, but you four should work through it yourselves. It’s good practice for ‘the real world.’” Although Serena knew Professor Arnold was right in the long run, her wisdom didn’t help right now. At least the group had updated her after they met. Jessica’s e-mail read, “We only had time for a half-hour meeting, but we decided our presentation would be about the best Super Bowl commer-cials of all time. Cassie and I will research the communication and marketing databases, Jordan will find examples of commercials on the internet, and your job will be doing the PowerPoint slides.” A week before their presentation was due, the group finally managed to agree on a time that everyone could meet—a waste of time, as it turned out. No one was prepared. Jessica spent the meeting time texting her boyfriend. Jordan was on his phone with somebody, and Cassie sat there scarfing down a huge burrito. Somehow they managed to get nothing done in an hour and twenty minutes. The presentation was next Monday, and no one else seemed to be the least bit interested in doing a good job. “Group projects are a pain,” Jessica tweeted after class. “Let’s just get through it.” What Serena’s mother had always told her appeared to be true: “If you want to get something done right, do it yourself.” But “doing it herself ” wasn’t an option for Serena’s group project, and, most likely, neither was getting an A" How would you characterize Serena’s group project experience? Have you ever been in a similar position? What, if anything, should she be doing differently? Describe Serena’s conflict management style. What clues does the case study provide you?
Communicating in Groups, Valuing Diversity
As Professor Arnold read the group members’ names aloud
for the assigned presentations in “Introduction to Mass Media” on Monday, it was all Serena could do to keep her cool. She listened intently: “Group 1: Jessica Andrews,” “Jordan Nelson,” “Cassie Phillips,” and “Serena Jackson.” Even as the names were coming out of Professor Arnold’s mouth, Serena could see how it would all play out. Jessica would want to run the group, Cassie wouldn’t come through on her part, and Jordan would totally blow off the assignment. Great,Serena thought. A random group of students I don’t even know very well will earn 35 percent of my grade. It just didn’t seem fair.
They had the last fifteen minutes of class to exchange cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses, which everyone did. There was even some excitement in the room. At least the group presenta-tions would break the repetitive cycle of weekly lectures. But the very thought of speaking in front of the class made Serena’s heart race, and now with ques-tionable teammates, things were looking grim. She had only earned a B on the first exam, and she desperately needed an A in this class to balance out her likely disappointing calculus grade.Serena sent off an e-mail to the group on Wednesday, suggesting they meet at the library on Friday morning to decide on a topic and divide up the work. Jessica wrote back immediately, “I work off campus on Friday mornings.” Cassie took her time but finally replied on Sunday, “I’m out of town this weekend. Let’s wait until next week.” Jordan didn’t write back at all. “You e-mailed me?” he said, with a puzzled look on his face in class on Monday. “Oh, I never check my e-mail. I only respond to texts.” Serena planned to catch everyone’s attention to set a new meeting time as class let out, but Cassie wasn’t there, and the other two had bolted by the time she zipped up her backpack.On Tuesday morning, it was Jessica who texted everyone: “Meeting in UC "
"Focus challenge case 299213 tomorrow at 2. I know that works for three of us.” Three of us? Serena asked herself. No one had even checked with her. Were they working around her? Her calc class met from 1:15 to 3:30, and she couldn’t afford to skip it. She texted back, “I have class then.” “No worries,” Jessica replied. “We three will get started. Then we can just circulate a PowerPoint, and talk through it for the actual presentation.” Serena replied, “I could meet at 4. Can you?” “No, Cassie has a doctor’s appoint-ment, and I have a student government meeting.” What was the group’s topic? Who was doing what? Were they trying to exclude her, or did it just seem that way? Sometimes Serena felt isolated as the only minority student in this class, and at her school, that happened fairly often.
Although she was seething inside, the last thing she wanted to do was rock the boat.Although she didn’t want to bother Professor Arnold, Serena finally decided to alert her to the group’s issues. But when she dropped by during office hours, Professor Arnold defended the assignment. “I know group projects can be challenging,” she said. “But you’ll be working through team issues like these in the workplace in a few years—and you’ll be ‘graded’ on the team’s results. I could step in and try to fix things, but you four should work through it yourselves. It’s good practice for ‘the real world.’” Although Serena knew Professor Arnold was right in the long run, her wisdom didn’t help right now. At least the group had updated her after they met. Jessica’s e-mail read, “We only had time for a half-hour meeting, but we decided our presentation would be about the best Super Bowl commer-cials of all time. Cassie and I will research the communication and marketing databases, Jordan will find examples of commercials on the internet, and your job will be doing the PowerPoint slides.”
A week before their presentation was due, the group finally managed to agree on a time that everyone could meet—a waste of time, as it turned out. No one was prepared. Jessica spent the meeting time texting her boyfriend. Jordan was on his phone with somebody, and Cassie sat there scarfing down a huge burrito. Somehow they managed to get nothing done in an hour and twenty minutes. The presentation was next Monday, and no one else seemed to be the least bit interested in doing a good job. “Group projects are a pain,” Jessica tweeted after class. “Let’s just get through it.” What Serena’s mother had always told her appeared to be true: “If you want to get something done right, do it yourself.” But “doing it herself ” wasn’t an option for Serena’s group project, and, most likely, neither was getting an A"
How would you characterize Serena’s group project experience? Have you ever been in a similar position? What, if anything, should she be doing differently?
Describe Serena’s conflict management style. What clues does the case study provide you?
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